The Rarest Exercise Machines We Tried at Mike Petrella’s STG Strength and Power Gym
As we pull into the parking lot, I see Mike Petrella by the door to STG Strength And Power, which is just as well as the gym is so new to this location there is no external signage. I am excited to catch up with him again after meeting a week previously at the REC conference. We step inside a cavernous space that feels aircraft hangar-like in dimension. This space however is not filled with private jets, instead it acts as a considerable containing space for row upon row of exercise machines. And there are many, no one has done …
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The Duo-Extension: A New “Arthur Jones” Machine in 2019
Half a century ago Nautilus inventor, Arthur Jones’ mind was focused on attempting to solve yet another challenge to improve exercise: how to make the squat safer and more effective. When the solution to doing just this became apparent to him, he referred to it in his IronMan magazine column of November 1970 as “The Final Breakthrough”. What’s the problem with barbell squats that inspired Jones to look to better such a classic exercise? Squats are a relatively high-skill exercise, some people’s knees don’t get on with them and those with low back issues may well find squats uncomfortable …
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A Template for Resistance Training, Updated for 2019
One of the questions that I asked James Steele to elaborate on during our recent interview was: if he were to lay out a template for personal trainers introducing clients to resistance training/HIT, how would such a template look today? Let’s explore his answer, as well as James Fisher’s input into the elements that make up the template. Steele starts out by highlighting that his template is best considered as a base that can be built on and experimented from, to fit the individual client and their needs or as James puts it “their context”. The following is a pragmatic, …
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In Conversation with James Fisher and James Steele (part 2): This is why you might want to use heavier loads with your clients
In this post we are going to look at the impact that the load we choose to use whilst performing an exercise has on our results. This is the second in a series of blog posts inspired by and featuring recent conversations with James Fisher, Senior Lecturer Sports Conditioning and Fitness at Southampton Solent University, and James Steele, Principal Investigator at UK Active Research Institute; Associate Professor Sport and Exercise Science at Southampton Solent University. Read the first one on perception of effort and its impact on achieving true muscular failure. In research, the load used for an exercise is …
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In Conversation with James Fisher and James Steele (part 1): Do you train to TRUE muscular failure? Understanding perception of effort, discomfort and intensity
An Agreed Definition of Intensity? When conversing with a wider audience there can however be a challenge, potential for miscommunication, in the interpretation of the term used. As James Fisher, James Steele and others have pointed out, there are trainers and researchers who associate the term “intensity” with the percentage of a 1 Rep Max (%1RM) being used during exercise. A 1RM is the most weight an individual can lift for one single repetition of an exercise. A percentage of this load is then often used for a given number of reps in research papers and in training routines, …
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The story behind Bill DeSimone’s course on integrating Functional Training with HIT
We have recently had the opportunity to work with personal trainer, author and speaker (NSCA, Club Industry, REC) Bill DeSimone to create a new course titled Functional Training: A Biomechanics Approach to Integrating FT with HIT. Controversial? Some seem to think so. And I get that reaction, if you had told me I would be involved in presenting a course that includes FT ten years ago I would have likely scoffed too, I was younger then and thought I knew damn near all there was to know about exercise. I started my career in personal training in 2000 and thankfully …
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In Conversation with Adam Zickerman: What’s changed since Power of 10?
This is a further blog post in a series featuring outstanding individuals from the HIT community who we spent some time with on our trip to the US earlier this year. In this post, we feature Adam Zickerman, owner of Inform Fitness and author of Power of Ten 10. Adam’s serendipitous career in exercise Adam has been a successful gym owner since the late 1990’s. In fact, 2018 marks his 21st year in the business of teaching the principles of sound strength training, but how did it all begin for him? He had always been athletic as a kid and …
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In Conversation with Fred Hahn: 20 Years of HIT, the Golden Age of Nautilus and Intermittent Fasting
Those of you who have already read the blog post overviewing our recent trip to the US will know that we got to meet up with some great individuals and business owners from within the HIT (High Intensity Training) community. This is the initial post in a series of more in-depth articles about each of the people that we got to meet, first up: Fred Hahn. A career in fitness: Fred Hahn Fred has had a passion for exercise ever since he became a member of The Charles Atlas Club when he was 10 years old. Flash forward to …
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HITuni goes to the US
The first 30 minutes of the drive required much focus as my brain’s default mode network (DMN) was unable do all the work required to safely drive on the right side of the road. Which was now indeed the right side of the road, and not the left. It hit home that months of planning were now a reality as we drove from Newark airport, New Jersey, toward Cranbury. We were headed to Optimal Exercise, the facility owned by Bill DeSimone. Those who don’t know Bill’s work yet need to catch up, he has already written two hugely valuable and …
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